My 6 yr old and I are working our way through Eureka on Netflix. We watch an episode during dinner.

As for iconic movies/shows- Both of my kids have seen E.T. and liked it. The older one has watched the Paul Dini Batman series, and is currently hot and bothered over ReBoot. He's watched most of Warehouse 13 with us, seen a bunch of Stargate SG-1 and he's watched Firefly all of the way through. Farscape failed to hold his interest, though.

I've been doing this with my son for years, via rerund and DVD's. He's not seen many complete runs, but he's now 15 and going through my Firefly DVDs rapidly. He also watches the modern 'fluff' like Warehouse 13.

Thinking about what shows from the past were really worth showing him just shows just how crap most of it was though.

Star Wars naturally.

TOS, TNG and DS9 plus season 4 of Enterprise.

Nu Galactica.

All sorts of Dr Who.

I'm going to try him on The X-Files, Blakes 7 and Old Galactica. I think he'll like The X-Files, be O.K. with Galactica, but I don't think he will have much good to say about Blakes 7.

I wouldn't try him with crud like Lost In Space, Land Of The Giants etc. even if I owned it. I struggle with the concept that anyone watched it back in the day. I didn't...

My youngest brother is currently exposing my nieces to classic TOS. I hear it's going well, although the Salt Vampire spooked them. An older niece got hooked on Smallville, even though she didn't know anything about comic books or Superman.

Hard to say what might appeal to them when they're older. The Twilight Zone is timeless, of course, provided they can get past the black-and-white business. And I like to think that Buffy will age well. Witty dialogue, engaging characters, and teenage angst never go out of style.

Nostalgia aside, some stuff ages better than others. Most of the Trek shows hold up well, as well as classics like The Avengers or The Outer Limits, but I wouldn't dream of subjecting a younger person to original-recipe Dark Shadows or The Green Hornet, no matter how I might have enjoyed them back when I was a kid.

Not sure about Kolchak:The Night Stalker. The dialogue and writing probably hold up, but the bargain-basement monsters and makeup might be a turnoff for the younger generation.

P.S. I don't think it's the length of older shows that's an issue as much as the pacing. Older shows and movies just tend to be slower and talkier by modern standards.

I've been doing this with my son for years, via rerund and DVD's. He's not seen many complete runs, but he's now 15 and going through my Firefly DVDs rapidly. He also watches the modern 'fluff' like Warehouse 13.

Thinking about what shows from the past were really worth showing him just shows just how crap most of it was though.

Star Wars naturally.

TOS, TNG and DS9 plus season 4 of Enterprise.

Nu Galactica.

All sorts of Dr Who.

I'm going to try him on The X-Files, Blakes 7 and Old Galactica. I think he'll like The X-Files, be O.K. with Galactica, but I don't think he will have much good to say about Blakes 7.

I wouldn't try him with crud like Lost In Space, Land Of The Giants etc. even if I owned it. I struggle with the concept that anyone watched it back in the day. I didn't...

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I don't know how old your son is, but when he gets to 11 or 12, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman. He won't care how corny it can get, he'll be transfixed.

Not sure about Kolchak:The Night Stalker. The dialogue and writing probably hold up, but the bargain-basement monsters and makeup might be a turnoff for the younger generation.

P.S. I don't think it's the length of older shows that's an issue as much as the pacing. Older shows and movies just tend to be slower and talkier by modern standards.

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This exactly. My kids had problems with Kolchak because of the pacing. To them, it took him too darn long to get to the action as the end of the episode. I remember him walking, exploring, getting startled and then confronting the episodes MOTW. It got boring for my kids.

Now that they are adults, they watch it, but are still a little antsy.

My kids like any animation like Star Wars Clone Wars, Ben 10 and my TAS DVDs.
My 9 year old watches TOS I think to be with me and because I have some of the toys like the Mugatu and the Gorn and Khhhhaaaaannnn.
He watches the TOS movies with me. I thought he'd be scared by the worm thing in the ear in TWOK but he tells me its not a real worm - its only a movie Mum. He's more scared by reality TV than by any movies. The Hobbit movie was too long for him.
He really doesn't have the patience for any other TV series except he used to watch Cleopatra 2525? with me when he was 5 or something